Sailor Circus In Sarasota, FL #CACMoreThanACircus

A Day at the Circus

Last weekend, The Traveling Gals were lucky enough to be invited to spend the morning training at the Circus!Sarasota and the Circus have a long history together.Sarasota was the winter headquarters for John Ringling and is known as the “Circus Capital of the World”.The international circus community continues to be an integral part of the city’s atmosphere.

This was our first time at the Circus Arts Conservatory and shame on us because it is blocks away from our home. The slogan More Than a Circus is extremely accurate.The building is shaped like a big top and is both a training and performance facility.In addition to training professional circus performers, many classes and camps are available to the local community.They also have an extensive outreach program to bring the legacy of the circus to the community through education, therapy and performing arts that serve youth to the elderly.It is very impressive!

After getting to know our fellow circus adventurers, we broke up into small groups and started training.We had great instructors from Australia in Rodleigh Lynch and Amanda Lynch.They were amazing and able to teach us so much in such a short amount of time!

Our first adventure was walking the tight rope.It is not easy, but surprisingly after getting some very valuable information about controlling your body and balance we were all able to balance on our own for a moment and walk the line for a foot or two.I thought my yoga classes would help me, but not being able to utilize your foot muscles to balance is a whole new challenge.

Next up were the hoops.We have all tried a hula hoop before so it seems easy enough.Wrong!After accidentally throwing the hoops every which way and sometimes at each other, the hoops are difficult!They are an awesome full body workout though and would be a great addition to any fitness routine.

We saved the best for last.Aerial Silks.What an amazing challenge!The principles are basic.You wrap your feet in the silks to create a ledge to climb up the silks.The execution is very strenuous and difficult.Ashley was more easily able to climb up and down.Kary needs more practice!

At the end of the morning, we both felt very accomplished and exhilarated from the entire experience.We decided right then and there to continue our “training” through the classes offered on a regular basis.CAC has been the most fun we’ve ever had working out.